Celebrities set off on 117-mile walk in aid of children’s charity

0 Sarah Brown, Sandi Toksvig, her wife Debbie Toksvig and actress Arabella Weir at Aberdour Celebrities including Great British Bake Off presenter Sandi Toksvig have set off on a 117-mile hike to raise money for girls’ education.

The five-day walking challenge along the Fife coastal path is spearheaded by charity campaigner Sarah Brown, with Ms Toksvig’s wife Debbie, actress Arabella Weir and author Kathy Lette also taking part.

The group arrived in Aberdour, Fife, in sunshine after walking from North Queensferry on the first day of the challenge. Today the team will march through Burntisland and plan to pitch up at Morrison’s supermarket in Kirkcaldy between 10.15am and 11am, where they will meet staff and supporters of the Cottage Family Centre. They will then walk along Kirkcaldy High Street. They will complete their adventure at Newport on Tay on August 3. They have already raised more than £15,000 for Mrs Brown’s charity Theirworld, which works to bring better health and education to the world’s most vulnerable children.

Mrs Brown, wife of former prime minister Gordon Brown, said: “Theirworld is a super charity that’s been doing so much work for children around the world, really trying to unlock the opportunity for education, to have the right youth skills and to give these kids who would otherwise miss out the best chance in life.

“Some of our early projects when we started 15 years ago were here in Fife, so it’s lovely coming back here to be able to do the walk and raise funds.

“It’s been 15 years, so we started with a £15,000 pot but we’ve got the Justgiving page up and we’re keeping going.

“Kathy’s our fastest walker and we’re a bit too slow for her, so she shot off ahead, but seems to have gone in a circle.”

Sandi Toksvig said she had prepared for the challenge “by eating lots of cake”.

“I’m having the best time, I think this is wonderful, I don’t know why I haven’t done it before,” she said.

Ms Lette, a keen hiker, said she was surviving on “haggis power” while Ms Weir said: “I expect our feet will start getting really sore in a few days, but I’m not a quitter.”

People have been urged to support the walkers as they pass through towns and villages on the route.

Theirworld work in the UK and around the world with projects ranging from Code Clubs for girls in Africa, teacher training in Turkey for Syrian refugee children, and school nutrition programmes.